Jelly Mongers | Bompas & Parr.

Edible architecture – Foster’s iconic Gherkin building in the center of the table surrounded by delicious looking multi-coloured jelly.

Decadent black jellies and trifles dusted in gold – collaboration between Fiona Leahy (party planner extraordinaire) and Bompas & Parr. This black banquet was hosted as part of the London Design Festival.

Aphrodisiac jellies – GOLD!

Harry and Sam use jelly to craft replicas of boobies. Hilarious!!

Sam Bompas and Harry Parr. Bonkers.

What happens when you merge food, architecture and art? You get Bompas & Parr, a genius double act that believe that anything is possible. Sam Bompas and Harry Parr are London based 27-year-olds who have in short three years become famous for their jellies, their parties, and their wackiness. The ‘architectural food-smith’ duo design spectacular food experiences often working on an architectural scale with cutting edge technology.

With no formal training in catering (Bompas studied geography and Parr studied architecture), they decided to “do something fun for the summer”, which was initially going to be a jelly stand at Borough Market in London. Since 2007, the guys have created ‘Alcoholic Architecture’ – a walk in cloud of breathable G&T at a pop-up bar in Soho (gold!), scratch and sniff cinema, 2000-person architectural jelly food fight, a bowl of punch big enough to row a boat across and a massive glowing jelly installation for San Francisco MOMA.

Bompas & Parr has also worked with architects such as Foster + Partners and Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners. It’s fair to say that these boys have got it going on! And to top it all of, they look like they really know how to have fun.

Extreme love!

Funeral Jelly Installation – “As part of the Sensate: Bodies and Design exhibition at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Bompas & Parr created a glow in the dark funeral jelly installation. Guests were served glowing sherry jellies designed with motifs found at the San Francisco Columbarium. A jelly funeral march accompanied the jellies.”

Yummo. I don’t even like jelly that much, but this table looks delicious.

St Paul’s cathedral – I’m guessing this couldn’t have been too easy to make, even with a mold!

Jelly with Bompas & Parr – “The book begins with an overview of the history of jelly, from Henry VIII’s ‘jelly hippocras’ to the fantastic work of the Victorians. It then delves into the science of creating the perfect jelly, using the very best ingredients and techniques. An array of delicious recipes finally ennsure that you can enjoy everything from super-economical fruity delights to flights of the fantastic. With cutting edge design and photography, and an unparalleled insight into the subject. Published by Anova Books in June 2010.”

300 Dish Elizabethan Dessert Banquet. “Inspired by the majestic dessert banquet served to Queen Elizabeth I at Kenilworth in 1575, we created an elaborate 300 dish dessert banquet in the restored Elizabethan gardens. Sugar sculptures of the garden’s aviary; bear and staff motif; and central fountain were created using an array of specially produced moulds.”

Alcoholic Architecture – The UK’s first walk-in cocktail. “This installation saw Bompas & Parr create a walk-in cloud of breathable cocktail. Visitors donned protective suits before entering into a mist of vaporised gin and tonic which they imbibed through inhaling.”

Architectural Jelly Design Competition. (If you are wondering why these jellies look a little bit dodgy, that’s because the boys didn’t make them.) Bompas & Parr invited architects to design a jelly as part of the London Festival of Architecture 2008. The jellies were later displayed at the Architectural Jelly Banquet and the moulds auctioned off to raise money money for building charity Article 25.